Starting Notes:

Welcome back! This chapter is mostly a transition chapter, so it's very short compared to normal, especially because there's no duel outline for this one. We haven't started the second round yet. Had fun with the duel for it though, so it wasn't half-bad. This chapter is… going to feel a lot like filler, but while I can't explain why it's not, it is a necessary chapter for future things.

Chapter 42: First Night

When Yuto was escorted down to the Underground, he was confused for a moment. However, seconds later, Kyorin popped out from behind a corner, waving a hand nervously. Yuto walked over immediately, someone comforted by the fact that she didn't look that afraid—which meant that things down here were going well.

"Hello!" Kyorin greeted. "We're all gathering in one place right now—safety in numbers, you know? Tsukikage was helping us out."

"That's good." Yuto followed her. "Who's down here?"

"Uh, Gongenzaka, Sawatari, Hitoda, Tsukikage and I." Kyorin glanced away. "Apparently, people who lose get sent down here, and they have to win a certain number of duels later on when Security comes down, so that they can get out of here. No one will really talk to us—they all look afraid, for some reason."

Afraid?

What was there to be afraid of?

Mion sighed. "... the calls aren't going through." After Nue had informed the rest of them about the Underground, Mion had thought to call Reiji, but for some reason, she couldn't call anyone outside of the building. They had most certainly been isolated from the outside world, and the worst part was that Mion couldn't tell if it was just the City's normal procedure or if there was something more malicious going on.

"Hey, why's everyone here looking so glum?" Yugo popped his head through the door.

Wait—if this was something malicious, then there was a chance that it might be targeted specifically at them, the Lancers. In that case…

"Yugo, do you have a phone?"

"A phone?" Yugo blinked. "Yeah, my duel disk has a phone function, but it won't work while you're in the Friendship Cup stadium. Even the audience are locked off from using communication functions."

"So that's just a normal thing?" Yuya said incredulously. "Then—Yugo, did you know about people getting sent to the Underground when they lose?"

Yugo blinked. "Ah, yeah."

"And you see nothing wrong with that?" Yuzu said indignantly.

"I mean, it's not like it's a permanent thing," Yugo explained. "It's a known penalty for signing up for the Friendship Cup and losing—once you're down there, you have to win a certain number of duels against the wardens before you can leave again. It takes a while, but you can leave. It's supposed to introduce a level of stress to the Friendship Cup."

"... that's just inhumane," Yuno said. "This city… is really rotten on the inside, huh?"

Miharu stood up, walked out, and did not say anything to any of them.

That night, Yuno knocked on Miharu's door, before he headed in. Miharu was seated at the desk, her laptop flipped open—she had apparently managed to keep a hold on it despite travelling through three different worlds.

"I thought so," Yuno said cheerfully. When she had left early, a lot of the others had assumed that she was just tired, but Yuno knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be going to sleep for a while. "Trying to figure out the jamming?"

"It's from an external source," Miharu said. "And it's tied to a physical device in the Security building. Even I'm not good enough to shut it down from here." She gestured for him to sit down. "I'm running a quick analysis on the different matchups that were chosen and identifying factors that I think were used to decide which matches should be chosen, to make predictions on what might happen in the future."

"You have made yourself busy, haven't you?" Yuno didn't exactly expect her to share everything with him—despite the fact that they both trusted each other, there were some things that Miharu sometimes chose not to tell him, just to avoid worrying him. And he trusted her to know when to tell him things when necessary.

"Mm. By right, everything should come down to entertainment value." She had the matchups on a screen, with her observations on them sorted into rows under different categories and factors. "For now, I'm trying to come up with justifying factors for each match."

"Oh." Yuno leaned over. "Explain your thought process to me?"

"You can read it."

"I enjoy hearing you talk though."

"... the first category is specifically matches that were 'entertaining' because of interpersonal connections. These people seem like they would enjoy seeing matches where the people within them are conflicted—or in general, they want to watch people who care for each other be forced to fight each other." Under that category, Miharu had pinned Nue and Yuto, Crow and Naoya, and Kiryu and Damon's names. "The second category is slightly distinct. It's about matches that might be entertaining because of their political involvement—obviously, that has nothing to do with us. So matches like Shinji-san against Ruka-san—a Commons rebel against an innocent Tops girl. That's the narrative that they want to paint, at least. Or Reira against Tony-san—they were probably hoping to paint the Commons as those that would attack children. Mizuchi-san against Misty-san was clearly to try to show that Security was stronger than one of the strongest criminals in the city. You and Chojiro-san was clearly meant to give him a good performance while introducing the Lancers to the City. Sherry-san and Tsukikage were most likely to put us back down—to make sure that we didn't seem too overpowering. Mion-san and Rua-san were probably intended to paint the Tops youth as innocent and enthusiastic, especially because of the order that it came in—right at the start. And me against Taki-san—it's odd calling her that when Kyoko-san has the same last name—was to show that the Council was weaker, according to what I can read from that. Those are the two categories that made the most sense."

She gestured to a differently colour-coded set of duels.

"Then, there are those that don't."

That category… those were the Lancers's duels. Yuya and Kyorin, Serena and Hitoda, and with a tiny asterisk next to it, Shun and Dennis.

"Why were there so many duels where we Lancers faced each other?" Miharu said. "Yuto and Nue-san also faced each other. Yugo and Sawatari, along with Yuzu and Carly-san, felt like the only duels where they were completely random. There is of course a chance that those four duels between just Lancers were randomised, but don't you think it feels very heavy-handed? As though someone wanted them to happen?"

"What reason would the Synchro Dimension have for making us fight each other though?"

Miharu glanced back at the board. "... what reason would the Synchro Dimension have for wanting Kurosaki, a member of the Resistance, to fight Dennis, an Academia spy?" She said, cutting to the crux of the issue immediately. "Why would the Synchro Dimension want duels where at least one of us is guaranteed to be eliminated, no matter what?"

"... you're suggesting that the Synchro Dimension considers us their enemies," Yuno said, getting what she was thinking. "But…"

"No," Miharu said. "I'm suggesting that someone with enough influence in the Friendship Cup wants us out. The Synchro Dimension is clearly unfamiliar with us—but someone is not."

"Academia is already here," Yuno concluded. "So—should we tell the rest? If we tell them, we might all be better prepared—"

Miharu gently grabbed his wrist before he could stand up. She shook her head.

"Hmm? Why not?"

"... we know there's a spy," she said. Her voice was soft. "... the spy has power in this world, but we don't. At the same time, we've been sitting here for a long time, Yuno. If they were working with Academia, they would have come after Yuzu or Serena or I by now. So their motives are still unknown to us."

"In that case, why not tell the rest?"

"... they're impulsive," Miharu admitted. "And if we let on that we know that something is wrong, the person doing this might panic. They're setting themselves against both us and Academia. And people who are cornered can do… awful things."

"You're worried about collateral damage, if the person takes extreme actions to respond to us."

And that was the heart of the issue, wasn't it?

"Ok then." Yuno took her hand. "If you say so. I believe in you."

"... if I was wrong, you would tell me, right?"

"I would," Yuno reassured her. "But I don't see any flaws in your logic." He glanced at the edge of the table, where Miharu's deck was sitting. "... were you looking through your strategies?"

"... my brother gave me three Link 4 monsters for an early birthday present," Miharu said after a moment. "I have a feeling that I know who my next opponent is. And I don't want to lose. So… I might have to use the third one, even though I don't want to."

"Hmm?"

There was another moment of silence. "… I'll have to think about it," Miharu murmured. "I'm tired."

"Well, sleep. You'll spoil your eyes if you keep staring at the screen."

"There is no scientific evidence that staring at a computer screen causes anything other than tired eyes."

Yuno gave her an unimpressed look. "Not the point." Miharu sighed, but she did move to sit on the bed anyway. "There we go. Good night." He squeezed her hand, before he headed for the door.

"Rest well," Miharu said.

"Same to you. See you tomorrow." He smiled, a slightly lopsided smile from one side to the other. "Don't go back to your laptop the moment that I leave."

… he did know her too well, after all.

Yuno shut the door behind him, before he headed towards his own room.

I didn't ask you who you thought my next opponent would be. I think it'll be fine, no matter who I have to face.

As long as it's not you.

As long as it's not you, it's okay.

While the participants of the Friendship Cup, both those still in the tournament and those that were eliminated, were resting, there were some others who had not yet gotten the chance to rest yet. In the Security headquarters, two officers were currently sincerely regretting their choice of occupation.

"Kaname's normally the one to finish all the paperwork, right?" Makoto grimaced. "No one told me when I volunteered to take care of this that I would have to do more paperwork. I didn't even know that there was this much paperwork for the Hunt."

"You know that she's quick with it." Chino, who was not contributing at all, was looking through her deck. "... whatever. The pay's good, and the boss offered an increase since it would just be the two of us overseeing this year for now."

"... the fact that the Security Overseer is the one not overseeing this time is frankly ridiculous." Makoto shook his head. "She'd better reward me well for taking over her job. Anyway—there's fifteen officers taking part this year, huh?"

"According to the boss, there's only a few serious candidates to be considered among them," Chino said. She tapped her fingers on the table. "Hurry up, Makoto. It starts tomorrow."

"Fine, fine." Makoto turned back to the paperwork, before groaning and leaning back. "... fuck."

A hand slid over the table, a bunch of forms there. Both Chino and Makoto nearly leapt out of their seats. The forms were all filled out—exactly what they needed.

"... my saviour," Makoto said dryly, after he was done having a heart attack. "But my god, could you not have warned us?"

Kaname shrugged.

"You're not staying at the quarters the whole time, huh?" Makoto got to his feet. "Uh, Chino, can you submit the forms?" Chino waved him off. Makoto followed the pale-haired girl out of the door, speaking up as he did so. "Avoiding your brother?"

A wave through the air. It's complicated.

"You make things far more complicated than they have to be," Makoto said, shaking his head. "But does that mean you're not heading back for now?"

A slight nod.

"Well, want to take a ride around the city?" Makoto exaggeratedly raised his wrist, pretending to check his watch. "I think I've suddenly been freed of the burden of several hours of paperwork. I can afford to go with you."

Another slight nod.

"Alright then." Makoto boldly reached out, taking her hand. "Let's get to the garage then, partner."

Kaname glanced away with no other visible response. However, she didn't pull her hand away, and that was enough for now. After all, at this point, they had known each other for two years. Makoto knew her well enough. It was less about what Kaname did, and more about what she didn't do.

Without understanding to look at the gaps instead of searching for an image, no one would understand her.

Three years ago:

"The Director's daughter is going to be our leader?" Makoto shrugged, a look of distaste on his face. "Talk about nepotism." Arisu reached over, flicking the top of his head. "Oi, Arisu. Aren't you mad too?"

"That's my sister you're talking about," Arisu said, crossing her arms.

"Huh?" Makoto frowned. "Roget is your father? What?"

"As if," Arisu said, her voice turning to a snarl for a moment. She had a perfectly good father, thank you very much. She didn't want to frighten the others though, so she softened her voice right afterwards. Both Chino and Makoto were only sixteen, after all—it would never be fair of her to burden them with her problems. "No, she's from an orphanage that my parents used to sponsor. I visited it all the time, so I befriended a lot of the kids there. She's basically my sister, and I have a brother there too."

"... well, shit," Makoto said. "I was going to bully her, but I guess you'd beat me up if I did that, huh?"

"You'd better not." Arisu sighed. "Teenagers."

"You're not that much older than us." Makoto sighed, turning around. "I don't even know—is she our age? Is she around yours?"

"Ask her," Arisu said, grinning like the cat that got the canary.

"Huh? She's not here yet—"

A finger tapped his shoulder. Makoto spun around and made direct eye contact with a brilliant amber eye.

(He might have let out the most unmanly scream that anyone had ever heard.)

The white-haired girl standing there (and how had she gotten so close without Makoto seeing her?) turned away, briskly walking to Arisu's side. She raised her hands swiftly, forming several quick signs, and Arisu nodded. The purple-haired young woman reached out, patting the top of her sister's head.

"This is my sister, Kaname Mizuchi," Arisu introduced. "She's a Psychic Duelist from the Arcadia Movement. She's two years younger than both of you, and she's functionally mute. Or selectively mute, depending on how you define it."

"You don't talk?" Makoto frowned.

"Makoto," Chino chided. "That's rude."

"I mean, I have to ask."

Kaname nodded. There was no real emotion to her expression.

"But anyway, two years younger? That means that you're fourteen, right? And I'm supposed to accept you as our superior?" Makoto raised a finger. "How about you show me why we should?"

"Makoto," both Arisu and Chino said, sounding equally exasperated.

Then, a text-to-speech voice spoke up. "Sure."

Makoto turned to the white-haired girl, who raised her duel disk in challenge.

Well, he hadn't expected her to actually agree. Maybe she wasn't quite as stoic and above it all as she seemed. Makoto raised his own duel disk as well.

"If I win," he said, "how about you stay on the same level as the rest of us?"

Kaname nodded.

"Fair enough then. Some fun stakes, yeah? Let's see what you can do." Despite the friendliness of his words, Makoto only felt unease when he looked at her. It was just something about her, the Director's daughter, that set him slightly on edge—all quiet and without presence, passing by without any words. No real face, most of it obscured, almost as though she wasn't physically present at all. Who could describe a single thing about Kaname Mizuchi's appearance, without falling back on simply talking about clothes?

Either way—

Makoto did not trust her and how she obscured herself. So he would figure out her true intentions here.

[DUEL!]

Kaname Mizuchi: 4000LP

Makoto Toyama: 4000LP

[Turn 1: Kaname] [H:5]

"The player starts their turn," Kaname's duel disk said in that quiet, robotic voice. "The player will activate the Spell Card, One for One. By sending a monster from their hand to the graveyard, the player can Special Summon a Level 1 monster from their deck. The player Special Summons Beautunaful Princess." A cream-coloured fish appeared, looking rather silly as it floated around Kaname's field. It was not exactly what Makoto had expected out of the mysterious-looking girl.

[Beautunaful Princess (1*/0/0/WATER/Fish/Effect)]

"The player will activate the effect of Beautunaful Princess. By banishing it from the field, the player can Special Summon a WATER monster from their Deck. The player will Special Summon the Fish monster, Gluttonous Reptolphin Greethys, from their deck." A blue, sharp-scaled fish appeared, with desaturated purple fins and a crocodile-like snout and fangs.

[Gluttonous Reptolphin Greethys (3*/1000/1000/WATER/Fish/Tuner/Effect)]

"Since the effect of a WATER monster was activated, the player can Special Summon Minairuka from their hand." In contrast to the rather hostile-looking Greethys, a cute blue shark appeared next to it, with a white bubble pattern forming its underbelly and dopey blue eyes staring forward.

[Minairuka (4*/1500/500/WATER/Fish/Effect)]

"The player will tune the Level 3 Greethys to the Level 4 Minairuka. Pale ghostly fish with the eyes of the devil. Summon forth a spiral of destructive water and slide gracefully through the wind and the waves. Synchro Summon. Level 7. White Aura Monoceros." A white fish with silver armour-like hard skin covering the top of its body, along with white fur like a unicorn's radiant mane. From the front of its head, a long, spiraling thin horn emerged, with spirals of aqua blue water spinning around it.

[White Aura Monoceros (7*/2500/1500/WATER/Fish/Synchro/Effect)]

"When White Aura Monoceros is Synchro Summoned, the player can revive a Fish monster from their graveyard, but the revived monster cannot attack this turn." Next to White Aura Monoceros, Greethys reappeared. "Since Greethys was used as Synchro Material, the monster that used it as Synchro Material gains 200 attack and defense points for each card in the opponent's hand." White Aura Monoceros glowed slightly.

[White Aura Monoceros: 2500 + 200 x 5 = 3500ATK; 1500 + 200 x 5 = 2500DEF]

"Once per turn, the player can activate Greethys's effect. The player can target a Fish, Sea Serpent or Aqua monster in the graveyard with an equal or lower Level than the number of cards in the opponent's hand and revive it, but it cannot activate its effects this turn." Minairuka reappeared on her field.

"Hey," Makoto said, blinking. "Are you…"

"The player tunes the Level 3 Greethys to the Level 4 Minairuka." True to what Makoto had thought, Kaname performed another Synchro Summon with the exact same materials. "Ice, form a path. Crimson rage that lies within frozen souls, let your frostbite creep through and shatter any that would cross us. Synchro Summon! Level 7! Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

A beautiful dragon made entirely from ice, with an eerie red light shining from within the scales. Twin, looking blue ice wings spread out, with large pieces of brilliant aqua and sinister red ice firming its wings. Blood red eyes stared forward. A sharp tail slashed through the air.

[Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (7*/2500/1700/WATER/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"The player activates the effect of Greethys again. The monster Synchro Summoned using it as Synchro Material gains 200 attack and defense points for each card in the opponent's hand."

[Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: 2500 + 200 x 5 = 3500ATK; 1700 + 200 x 5 = 2700DEF]

So by summoning both monsters on the first turn, she had brought out two monsters with 3500 attack points with only two cards? (Or three, if one considered the discard cost for One for One, but…)

"The player ends their turn."

"… hmm." Makoto grinned. "Not bad. You're actually a challenge."

[Turn 2: Makoto] [H:6]

"Draw," Makoto declared. "Since only my opponent controls a monster, I can activate the Quickplay Spell, Dragunity Draft! I can Special Summon a "Dragunity" Tuner and a "Dragunity" non-Tuner from my deck with their effects negated, and then immediately perform a Synchro Summon using both of them, since you control a monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. However, I cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck this turn, other than Dragon monsters. So come, Dragunity Remus! Dragunity Arma Leyvaten!"

First, a white and blue dragon appeared, rather small. It was absolutely dwarved by the large orange dragon that appeared to its left—bright orange feathers forming its wings as it held up a wickedly sharp blade. The fiery orange dragon let out a sharp roar.

[Dragunity Remus (2*/800/800/WIND/Dragon/Tuner/Effect)]

[Dragunity Arma Leyvaten (8*/2600/1200/WIND/Dragon/Effect)]

"Then, I will tune the Level 2 Remus to the Level 8 Leyvaten!" Usually, he didn't bring out this monster—after all, most people could barely match up to him even when all that he was using was Barcha. However, there was some part of him that was set on high alert—some part of him that was shouting that he wouldn't stand a chance otherwise.

For a person with no presence, she certainly carried a sense of unnatural intimidation to her, for a fourteen-year-old girl.

"Fire, form the explosive star that floats over the chasm of the world beyond us! Be seen by the ice and the wind and bury the world in your light! Synchro Summon! Level 10! Dragunity Knight - Ascalon!" The large, intimidating orange and gold dragon appeared in front of him, glowing gold like sunlight—the embodiment of a sunrise taking physical form.

[Dragunity Knight - Ascalon (10*/3300/3200/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"Ascalon's effect," Makoto continued. "I know what Gungnir's effect does—I've seen it before. I don't know what that pale fish of yours does though. So I'll banish a "Dragunity" monster from my graveyard, like Remus, to target and banish a monster you control! Begone—White Aura Monoceros! Ascending Sunblaze!" The golden flames shot forward, incinerating the large white fish. Kaname had no response to that at all. "I will then activate the Field Spell, Dragon Ravine. I will discard a card to add a Level 4 or lower "Dragunity" monster from my deck to my hand. Then, I'll activate the Spell Card, Cards of Consonance, discarding a Dragon Tuner monster with 1000 or less attack points to draw two cards."

That left him with four cards in his hand—plenty, and with his graveyard properly set up as well.

"Equip Spell, Dragunity Divine Lance," Makoto declared. A golden lance flew straight to Ascalon, levitating in front of it. "Ascalon gains 100 attack points times its Level, and it is unaffected by Trap effects."

[Dragunity Knight - Ascalon: 3300 + 100 x 10 = 4300ATK]

"With Divine Lance's effect, during the Main Phase, I can equip a "Dragunity" Dragon Tuner monster to Ascalon from my deck. I will equip Dragunity Brandistock to Ascalon, and with Brandistock's effect, Ascalon can declare two attacks this turn!"

In his usual experience, this was an instant kill for most opponents. A monster with more attack points than their life points that could remove one monster from the field, attack twice, and which was unaffected by Trap effects. He'd test it here though.

"Ascalon attacks Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!"

"During the end of the opponent's Main Phase, the player activates the effect of Snopios, Shade of the Ghoti. By banishing the two Fish monsters, Minairuka and Greethys, from the graveyard, the player can Special Summon it from the graveyard to their field." A large octopus appeared on her field, bright luminescent blue that turned to purple at the ends, bright white light dancing around it.

[Snopios, Shade of the Ghoti (6*/2100/0/WATER/Fish/Effect)]

A monster in Defense Position… that must have been the card she discarded for One for One, then.

"You live then," Makoto accepted. "Ascalon clears away your two monsters." The dragon struck out twice, crushing both Snopios and Gungnir beneath its claws.

Kaname: 4000 - 800 = 3200LP

"Ending my turn. Over to you."

Kaname glanced at him, and then she swiftly drew a card, seeming completely unfazed.

[Turn 3: Kaname] [H:3]

"Draw. The player activates the Spell Card, Terraforming. They add the Field Spell, The Most Distant, Deepest Depths from their Deck to their hand. The player activates The Most Distant, Deepest Depths." Her Field Spell was set up as well, luminescent light dancing in dark streams of water like stars in a void, mixing with the winds of Makoto's own Field Spell. "By banishing a Fish monster from the graveyard, the player can use the effect of The Most Distant, Deepest Depths to add a "Ghoti" monster from their deck to their hand. The player banishes Snopios from the graveyard."

So her deck focused on banishing her own Fish monsters? In that case, Makoto didn't know if he had made the right call by banishing her Fish Synchro earlier.

"Since a Fish monster was banished, the player can Special Summon Ixeep, Omen of the Ghoti from their hand." A luminescent, translucent guppy with fins fanning out around it appeared, red dots dancing within its body like the light of a laser pointer.

[Ixeep, Omen of the Ghoti (4*/1500/0/WATER/Fish/Effect)]

"The player then Normal Summons Paces, Light of the Ghoti." In front of her, a much smaller white octopus appears, dazedly floating around.

[Paces, Light of the Ghoti (2*/0/0/WATER/Fish/Tuner/Effect)]

"The player tunes the Level 2 Paces, Light of the Ghoti to the Level 4 Ixeep, Omen of the Ghoti. From the water, emerge with your true strength and make the world bow down before your regality. Synchro Summon. Level 6. Coral Dragon." The colourful aquatic dragon appeared, and Makoto blinked.

"A lot more colourful than I'd expected from you," he mused.

[Coral Dragon (6*/2400/500/WATER/Dragon/Synchro/Tuner/Effect)]

"With the effect of Coral Dragon, the player discards a card to destroy a card on the field." Kaname discarded the last card in her hand and pointed to Ascalon. Like a firework igniting, the dragon exploded into golden light.

"When Ascalon is destroyed by an opponent's card, I can Special Summon a "Dragunity" monster with 3000 or less attack points from my Extra Deck, and treat it as a Synchro Summon!" The golden light shot upwards—flaring out like a phoenix's wings. "Emerald, shining scales! Glide onto the field now, and let these fallen souls be your fuel! Synchro Summon! Level 8! Dragunity Knight - Barcha!" The green and purple dragon appeared with a hideously loud howl.

[Dragunity Knight - Barcha (8*/2000/1200/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Effect)]

"When Barcha is Synchro Summoned, I can equip as many Dragon "Dragunity" monsters from my graveyard to him," Makoto continued. "I will equip Dragunity Knight - Ascalon, Dragunity Brandistock, Dragunity Arma Leyvaten, Dragunity Pilum and Dragunity Aklys from my graveyard to Barcha, and it gains 300 attack points for each card equipped to it!"

[Dragunity Knight - Barcha: 2000 + 300 x 5 = 3500ATK]

"So that exceeds your monster's attack points!"

A simple shrug. Or, quite plainly, there were no fucks given. Kaname simply raised a hand and ended her turn.

[Turn 4: Makoto] [H:4]

"Draw!" Makoto gestured forward. "Brandistock gives my monster two attacks per turn, and that hasn't changed! Attack Coral Dragon!"

"The player activates the effect of Breakthrough Skill in the graveyard."

… oh, come on.

"The effects of Dragunity Knight - Barcha are negated." And thus, its attack points fell back to normal, and it was destroyed by its own attack.

… clever.

[Dragunity Knight - Barcha: 3500 - 1500 = 2000ATK]

Makoto: 4000 - 400 = 3600LP

"Since Dragunity Aklys was sent to the graveyard while it was equipped to a monster, I can destroy a card on the field. I will destroy Coral Dragon!" The orange dragon was torn to pieces.

"When Coral Dragon is destroyed, the player can draw a card." Kaname swiftly drew the card before the text-to-speech was even done.

"That's fine." Makoto moved to his Main Phase 2. "I'll use the effect of Dragon Ravine to discard a card and add a Level 4 or lower "Dragunity" monster from my deck to my hand. I'll Special Summon Dragunity Legatus from my hand since I control Dragon Ravine!" A green avian humanoid appeared, bold black and green wings spreading out.

[Dragunity Legatus (4*/1800/1200/WIND/Winged Beast/Effect)]

"I'll Normal Summon Dragunity Couse!" The blue and purple dragon appeared as well. "I'll tune the Level 2 Couse to the Level 4 Legatus! Amethyst courage lying within the heart of the sturdy warrior! Riding atop the brave dragon of the mountaintops, let your glory shine across valleys! Synchro Summon! Level 6! Dragunity Knight - Luin!"

A beautiful purple dragon appeared, thin and sharp appendages all over it. It was consistently cool-coloured, purple and blue that soothed the eyes. A similar colour scheme to Couse's. Oh, and it had a gigantic sword as its horn.

[Dragunity Knight - Luin (6*/1200/2900/WIND/Dragon/Synchro/Tuner/Effect)]

"Luin will equip a "Dragunity" monster from the graveyard to himself," Makoto continued. "I'll equip Aklys from the graveyard to Luin. And I'll then activate the Spell Card, Return of the Dragon Lords. I can revive a Level 7 or 8 Dragon monster, so come back—Barcha!" Barcha reappeared in Attack Position as well. "And I'll end my turn."

[Turn 5: Kaname] [H:2]

"Draw," the robotic voice said. "The player uses the effect of The Most Distant, Deepest Depths. By banishing Paces, Light of the Ghoti from the graveyard, the player adds another "Ghoti" monster from their Deck to their hand. The player Normal Summons Paces, Light of the Ghoti." The white mini-octopus reappeared on her field. "The player uses Paces's effect. By banishing it from the field, the player can Special Summon Eanoc, Sentry of the Ghoti from their hand." A large, strange and alien manta ray appeared, as large as a human torso.

[Eanoc, Sentry of the Ghoti (6*/2100/0/WATER/Fish/Effect)]

"The player uses Eanoc's effect to Special Summon Paces from the banished monsters. The player tunes the Level 2 Paces to the Level 6 Eanoc. Beautiful flying fish floating in the reaches of the extraterrestrial oceans, crush the universe beneath your beautiful, pale power. Synchro Summon. Level 8. Askaan, the Bicorned Ghoti." A long, pale white fish appeared, its body shivering slightly in the air.

[Askaan, the Bicorned Ghoti (8*/2700/0/WATER/Fish/Synchro/Effect)]

"Askaan's effect activates. The player can banish a Fish monster from their field and a card on the opponent's field. The player chooses Askaan, the Bicorned Ghoti and Dragunity Knight - Luin."

Makoto blinked. The cards dissolved into bright light and seafoam. He had expected her to banish Barcha, but it seemed that she had banished Luin instead—and getting rid of her own monster?

"The player activates Askaan's effect. The player will banish Eanoc from the graveyard to Special Summon Askaan back to the field."

And because that effect would resolve last, Aklys's effect, which was compulsory, wouldn't be able to destroy it. "I will destroy your Field Spell with Aklys's effect."

The Field Spell exploded, and Askaan returned to the field soon after.

"The player sets a card facedown. Askaan attacks Dragunity Knight - Barcha." The other monster was destroyed.

Makoto: 3600 - 700 = 2900LP

"The player ends their turn."

"... jeez," Makoto said. He swept his fringe from his face. "You're a lot to deal with."

[Turn 6: Makoto] [H:2]

"Draw!" He declared.

"During the Standby Phase, Paces Special Summons itself to the player's field." The small octopus reappeared on the field.

"I'll activate the Spell Card, Pot of Avarice. I will shuffle Dragunity Knight - Barcha, Dragunity Knight - Ascalon, Dragunity Knight - Luin, Dragunity Legatus and Dragunity Brandistock into the deck to draw two cards. Then, I will discard another card and add a Level 4 or lower "Dragunity" monster from my deck to my hand. I will then Normal Summon Dragunity Senatus!" A person with a green bird head appeared, holding onto a golden staff.

[Dragunity Senatus (4*/1800/600/WIND/Winged Beast/Effect)]

"I will discard a card and equip a "Dragunity" card to it from the deck. I'll equip Dragunity Phalanx to it." The blue and bronze dragon appeared. "And I'll banish Senatus from the field to Special Summon Dragunity Arma Leyvaten from the graveyard." The feathered orange and red dragon rose up from the graveyard. "I'll then use Arma Leyvaten's effect to equip Phalanx to it. And with Phalanx's effect, it will Special Summon itself."

[Dragunity Phalanx (2*/500/1100/WIND/Dragon/Tuner/Effect)]

Phalanx and Arma Leyvaten flew up, and Ascalon shot back down again with a familiar loud roar.

"I will banish Phalanx from the graveyard with Ascalon's effect, and banish your Askaan!"

Kaname arched an eyebrow. Makoto blinked. "The player banishes the Fish monster, Paces, from the graveyard, to bring Askaan back to the field." Askaan vanished and reappeared.

"Well, that's fine," Makoto said with a smirk. "Attack Paces, Ascalon." For some reason, Kaname had brought out that monster in Attack Position.

"Before the opponent moves to their Battle Phase, Paces can perform a Synchro Summon using itself and other monsters that the player controls. The player tunes the Level 2 Paces to the Level 8 Askaan." Behind her, an enormous portal opened up, and a claw tore through it with a loud roar. "Arise now, sealed demon that rules over the holy creatures of the sea with an iron will. Synchro Summon. Level 10. White Aura Bihamut."

A twin-headed dragon pushed through, claws landing on the ground around her and leaving deep gouges in the floor tiles. The white dragon coiled around Kaname, and a sonic screech filled the room. Both heads let out the same roars as the claws slashed through the air.

Makoto stared at the gouges in the ground.

"That's the only monster Kaname has that she can't really control the strength of," Arisu explained. "It'll be fine, the boss can afford to pay for it."

[White Aura Bihamut (10*/3300/3000/WATER/Fish/Synchro/Effect)]

The same attack points as Ascalon… but if he brought out Barcha, he would win.

"I'll end my turn," Makoto said.

"During the opponent's turn, when the player controls no Tokens, White Aura Bihamut can Special Summon a Divine Dragon Token to the field." The serpent sat down, taking up two Main Monster Zones, though it was technically two different monsters.

[Divine Dragon Token (10*/3300/3000/WATER/Fish)]

… hmm. Was she going to…

[Turn 7: Kaname] [H:2]

"Draw. The player will activate the Spell Card, Fish and Kicks. Since the player has at least three banished Fish monsters the player can banish a card on the field."

… what—

Ascalon was banished, and right afterwards, Bihamut finished him off.

Makoto: 2900 - 3300 = 0LP

Winner: Kaname Mizuchi!

Makoto was blown back by the attack, and when he glanced at his arm, there was a thin gash along it. Before he could think anything though—

A slender hand held out a roll of bandages towards him. It was a peace offering.

Makoto shrugged, reached out and took the bandages. "Alright," he said. "Not bad, boss."

A slight shake of her head. The hand stayed there.

"... hmm." She clearly didn't like being called the boss. In that case… "Partner?" He offered with a smirk.

A shrug. He took her hand and let her pull him to his feet.

… ah, fuck. He'd always had a thing for girls that were stronger than him. Luckily though, he had managed to play that off.

And he was, at the very least, aware of when someone was far too dangerous to have as an enemy.

In the present:

Roget tilted his head. So much left to do.

"The Lancers in the Underground will likely be eliminated by tomorrow," he murmured. "Perhaps Yuzu Hiiragi or Serena Akaba will lose tomorrow and I will be able to retrieve them immediately." Dennis still hadn't been found though. At this point, he had likely returned to Academia, and there would be nothing that Roget could do about that. He could only plan ahead.

But in just a few days, my plans will be complete.

And neither Academia or the Lancers will ever be able to stop me again.

It was bright. Far too bright. White, sterile lights in the ceiling.

And it hurt.

It hurt, and it would never stop hurting. The electricity crackled across her body like whips coated in shards of glass.

The girl desperately tried to look away and forget. The girl tried to forget.

The colours had faded from her vision.

A voice spoke up in her head, at the same time—something that felt too distant. Something that felt faded, a dream within a dream. It felt like it was suffocating her.

"You need to remember."

I can't. It hurts too much.

"But there was something that you knew once, before any of that. Before you became who you are today."

I'm not even a person today. I don't ever remember being a person.

"So you don't remember the girl you were before all of this? You were someone once."

I don't want to remember.

No matter what.

It hurts too much—

The world shifted. Bright white lights vanished, replaced by ash clouds and buildings toppling down everywhere. There was something undoubtedly sinister to the air.

An eye cracked open. It stared at her. Black clouds swirled around it. A hint of wings—far more wings than any bird would ever have—with ribbons of light shining ominously within it. Claw marks scarring black shadows. Silver streaks of a mane emerging from nothing. Or rather, she assumed they were silver. Everything felt so dull and grey.

Was this a memory?

It hurt to look at.

It felt like something that should not be looked at. This thing in front of her. Something not quite physical. Eldritch.

And yet, a part of her recognised it.

It looked at her, and it roared in the smoky air. A name came to the girl's lips, and then she forgot it before she could speak it into existence. The clouds in the sky had been torn apart.

More eyes cracked open. A low bellow filled the world.

The girl just felt a deep sadness. She reached out a hand towards the odd dark creature. A hand reached back towards her.

"Don't go," she said, the words hers and not hers at the same time, a tranquil echo to her voice.

"Why not?" A rough voice replied. "Didn't you do it first?"

A flash of light, thunder crackling through the air.

The girl woke up.

It was dark in the room. She curled up for a moment, breathing out slowly.

She didn't remember what she had dreamed about at all. It just hurt so much to think about it.

Miharu raised a hand to her forehead. She felt cold. It felt like something was creeping on the edge of her vision. She breathed out slowly. Everything around her spun slowly, strange spots in her vision. For a moment, she couldn't see anything around her. Just grey, grey grey, everything blending together, the edges of those objects melding into each other like a watercolour painting.

… maybe it might be better to not sleep.

End Notes:

Honestly, this duel is entirely self-indulgent. I could've skipped that duel because that scene was just to hint at some future stuff and set up some stuff, but Dragunity and Fish Synchro are cards that I really love, so I just wrote it in. It's pretty simple though.

Kaname's deck is slightly weaker in the duel above since it's three years prior, and it wouldn't have made sense for her to not have grown at all across the three years. (Weaker, I say, as she does a combo with only two cards in her first turn.) Uh, I meant that she doesn't have as many interference options, as I think we can all tell from the fact that she's not constantly procing her Tuners' effects. Anyway, you might be wondering why I've given Kaname this large of a variety of Synchros—White, Ghoti and Ice Barrier. And the answer is, uh, there are 36 WATER Synchro Monsters in the game as of when I'm writing this. Since most of the WATER Synchros here are generic, I decided to just toss them to Kaname since I'm probably not going to have any other use for it. So, by rule of thumb, if it's not Ursarctic, Crystron, Chengying or Dragite, it's fair game.

Anyway, funnily enough, in one of the earliest sketches I had for Arisu and Kaname, long before I had anything about Yugo's backstory properly worked out, their decks were nothing like what they are now. I think my first idea was to give them WIND decks, but in the end, I wanted that love of the wind to be something shared by Yugo and Rin specifically—it felt like it would be less special if I gave it to more characters. I do believe that the original deck ideas for Arisu and Kaname were Dragunity and Gusto. I prefer this version though, even if I love Gustos so much that not using them here mildly murdered me.

I'm kind of wondering—how long does a story have to be for me to make a character profiles fic? Because I feel like I have enough characters in this story that I could probably structure it in an interesting way. Eh, just a thought.

Also, I was going to talk about Miharu's dream here, but I realised that literally anything I can say about it is a huge spoiler.

Review responses!

To makotoxvalerie, I have never directly promised specific duels to happen. I only said that I would be interested in writing specific duels for that other story afterwards if I don't write them in the main story. I would never write a story like that before this one ends, because that would make huge spoilers for what doesn't happen here.

To the Guest asking about covers, yes, I do intend to have Yuji/Chiaki/Yuno covers in the future. The Miharu one is just the first one that I got.

To LHOCIN, yup, that's what I was aiming for with Dennis. Interesting guesses! Obviously can't confirm them, but your reasoning is quite sound. I'll give a quick update on those with perfect records—technically, Yuji, Miharu, Nue, Yugo, Shun, Arisu, Aki, Kaname and Reira are the characters with perfect win records as of now. Take what you will from that. :D Not counting Reiji's duel against Miharu and Yuno is fine. Tbh, I'm only able to write the decks of the 'rivals' because my brother was a fan of them, so I've gotten trashed by all of them at some point in the past. Yes, thank you for your speculation! :) I do appreciate your reviews.

To phantomdragons, your review actually helped me come up with the QOTC for this chapter! Good analysis on the types of decks. You actually nailed the possible decks that I thought of when I was first planning out the character. I won't confirm which one I actually chose though. Very good guesses. I already answered the answer about the fic pic, yeah? Anyway, glad you enjoyed the chapter.

To DSpaceZ, heh, I did enjoy your review! Thank you for pointing out the mistake with Dark Rebellion's effect. I already fixed it. I'm glad that you enjoyed the duel though. Looking forward to your guesses!

To cardfan135, glad that you enjoy the antagonists! I do enjoy writing them—I'm the type that wants the antagonists to still be human even if they oppose the main characters. Like, we all enjoy maniacal Yuri, but I've seen that enough times that I wanted to write something different.

To naminexriku2468, Kisara's thought process is quite different from how you might imagine. Don't judge her too much for now. The next time she shows up, a bit more will be revealed about her. Just remember that everyone in this story is intended to be written to make sense. That's an interesting fun fact at the end there!

To kikuruhime, I don't think that I can deny that Miharu and Chiaki are my favourites out of the four counterparts that I made. However, Chiaki is not currently doing anything in the plot, so I can't justify making her the cover currently. :D Thank you for your review.

The next chapter will take a long while, because I'm currently suffering from a bad bout of stomach flu, so everything currently feels horrible.

QOTC: Who do you all think is the best older sibling in the story? I have a feeling that I know the answer most are going to give, but other than the obvious favourite, who do you think is the one that treats their younger sibling the best?

Feel free to review! Favourites and follows are also appreciated ;3 This story will be going on a break until May, because of IRL illness and issues. We'll be back then! :D